What to Do If You’re a Victim of Identity Theft

Identity theft is now being recognized as a massive business in the world of crime. In the recent years it has been growing at a very fast pace resulting to more and more victims. The Federal Trade Commission is the agency that has legally taken up the initiative in tracking down the culprits of this crime. There are even cases witnessed where one is still not aware that his identity has been stolen. It is extremely unpredictable when one might become a victim to identity crime and hence this article provides a few tips to help one recover from identity theft.

The first action one should take in on realizing that they have become a victim of identity theft, is immediately contact the police and make a report. This report should be kept safe for a lifetime. The next step is to contact all three credit agencies and ask for an extended credit alert on one’s credit report. An initial alert lasts for only a period of 90 days where as an extended alert lasts for a period of 7 years, thus extended alert is a wiser decision as one might again become a victim of identity theft.

One of the precautions that do no demand for too much of knowledge and anybody can take it up is to cancel all those credit cards that hardly or never come in use. The credit cards generally have a much lower chargeable interest rate in comparison to those of individual store cards that have a chargeable interest rate of 21% or above. When a person asks for closure of their account, he should also make sure to take all the detailed documentation as well as letter stating “account closed by consumer”.

Being more attentive towards your surrounding is the best way one can keep himself on safer grounds.